1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to completion strings deployed in wellbores for the production of hydrocarbons from subsurface formations, including completion strings deployed for fracturing, sand packing and flooding, which strings include one or more expansion joints or tools to accommodate for the expansion and contraction of the strings during completion of such wellbores and during the production of hydrocarbons from such wellbores.
2. Background of the Art
Wellbores are drilled in subsurface formations for the production of hydrocarbons (oil and gas). Modern wells can extend to great well depths, often more than 15,000 ft. Hydrocarbons are trapped in various traps or zones in the subsurface formations at different depths. Such zones are referred to as reservoirs or hydrocarbon-bearing formations or production zones. Some reservoirs have high mobility, which is a measure of the ease of the hydrocarbons to flow from such reservoirs into the wells drilled through the reservoirs under natural downhole pressures. Some reservoirs have low mobility and the hydrocarbons trapped therein are unable to move with ease from such reservoirs into the wells drilled therethrough. Stimulation methods are typically employed to improve the mobility of the hydrocarbons through the low mobility reservoirs. One such method, referred to as fracturing (also referred to as “fracing” or “fracking”), is often utilized to create cracks in the reservoir rock to enable the fluid from the reservoir (formation fluid) to flow from the reservoir into the wellbore. To fracture multiple zones, an assembly containing an outer string with an inner string therein is run in or deployed in the wellbore. The outer string typically includes a series of devices corresponding to each zone conveyed by a tubing into the wellbore. The inner string includes devices attached to a tubing to operate certain devices in the outer string and facilitate fracturing and/or other well treatment operations. To fracture and sand pack a zone, a fluid containing a proppant (sand) is supplied under pressure to each zone, sequentially or to more than one zone at the same time. During fracturing operations the fluid supplied from the surface lowers the temperature of the outer string, which can cause the string to contract or shrink. One or more expansion tools or joins are provided in the outer string to accommodate changes in the length of the outer string due to the thermal fluctuations downhole without creating additional stress along the outer string geometry.
The disclosure herein provides a string for placement in a wellbore that may include one or more expansion tools or joints.